


You'll Be In My Heart

by vktrnkfrv



Series: Spiderling [1]
Category: Iron Man (Movies), Marvel Cinematic Universe, Spider-Man: Homecoming (2017), The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: Family Feels, Family Fluff, Kid Peter Parker, Parent Tony Stark, Peter Parker Needs a Hug, Peter Parker is Tony Stark's Biological Child, Pre-Iron Man 1, Precious Peter Parker, Tony Stark Acting as Peter Parker's Parental Figure, Tony Stark Has A Heart, Tony Stark Needs a Hug
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-07-15
Updated: 2019-07-15
Packaged: 2020-06-28 17:06:18
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,320
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19816705
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/vktrnkfrv/pseuds/vktrnkfrv
Summary: “He’s not like an appliance Tony!” Pepper exclaimed, she paused to take a quick breath. “You can’t return him when you’re bored of him!”“You think I don’t already know that!”





	You'll Be In My Heart

_**Don't listen to them** _  
_**'Cause what do they know** _  
_**We need each other, to have, to hold** _  
_**They'll see in time, I know. . .**_

_**. . .'Cause you'll be in my heart** _   
_**Believe me you'll be in my heart** _   
_**I'll be there from this day on** _   
_**Now and forever more** _

* * *

It was otherwise a quiet week for Tony Stark. Inventing something here and going to parties there, with business meetings sprinkled in between. He was shocked to receive a call from his lawyers. Tony was in the midst of curing his ever present hangover, when he had gotten a call. The sudden ring of his phone made him jump up into the air. He clutched his hand to his heart as he felt it thump away, a hundreds beat a second. 

“Stark.” He muttered into the phone. It didn’t matter who they were. Tony did not like to be caught off guard. 

“Mr Stark-“ Tony knew that voice. It was one of the many lawyers that made up his legal team. He had his lawyers calling him almost everyday, especially after a wild night. 

“What ever it was, I didn’t do it.”

“Sir, there is a situation.” Tony groaned at the tone of his lawyer, it must have been something big. 

“What is it? Just pay them a couple thousand- no you know what make it million. I’m feeling generous today.” It was nice to have money and Tony would be completely guilty if he said that he doesn’t abuse it. 

“Sir that’s not quite the situation. There is a child, and they appears to be yours.” 

Tony was confused. A child. Yes, he slept around, but he was always, very, very careful. Tony stood in the middle of his kitchen and was very confused. 

“No. There is no way that _I_ have a child.” 

“We’ve thought about that. And yes, we have performed a parental test. The match was positive. The child is just under two years old.” 

“Where is the mother!” Tony snapped. 

“She and her husband both past away in a plane crash. The child has no other living relatives.” 

Tony instantly back tracked. The kid was an orphan. They had no one. Tony had been there, done that. It was more than a few years ago that his parents had died. He can’t say that he felt completely remorse full for his fathers death. Howard Stark was like a thorn in Tony’s side ever since he was a young boy. Howard never physically harmed him, but you can’t see all scars. The pressure that Tony received from his father from a young age, made Tony resent his father, but even when Tony did something great, Howard was never around to see it. But his mother was a godsend. She made his bleak life worth living. His fathers approval didn’t matter as long as he had his mother. She showed him love and kindness. She showed up to every prize giving, science fair, assembly, everything. If Tony was in it, she was there. Tony could never recall Howard being at his high school graduation, but his mother was there sitting in the front row with a camera in her hands. 

“Who are they? Where are they?” Tony asked. 

“His name is Peter Benjamin Parker, he is about 22 months old and he is currently at a foster home in New York.” 

He had a son. A little boy. Someone who wasn’t even old enough to say his ABC’s and he had to deal with one of his hardest moments of his life. But he wasn’t doing it alone. No. Peter was going to live here with Tony. It could be one of the most irresponsible things that Tony could do. But he didn’t care. There was another Stark in the world, and he was all by himself, and Tony was not let that about to happen. 

-

A few hours later, Tony was in a private jet flying to New York. He was nervously tapping his fingers of the arm of the chair. The shock of having a child wore off, but the anxiety of caring for another human being settled in. Fear gripped Tony in a fierce vice. He had no idea how to look after himself, let alone another child. Before he left, he had JARVIS order just about every single book on parenting in the world. He will not fuck up this kid like Howard had fucked him up. 

He still hadn’t told Pepper or Rhodey yet. He wasn’t prepared for the lashing that he would get from both for taking in a child. But honestly, Tony didn’t care what anyone thought. Despite only know of Peter, he felt something for the kid. In the back of his mind he knew he already loved Peter. He would do anything for the kid and he only knew his name. Was this the feeling that a parent had? Tony could never guess. 

The flight in Tony’s opinion was too short. Before he knew it, he was driving to the foster home where Peter was staying. He saw the landscape of New York change as he got closer to Queens. He made it to a small two-story house, picket fence in the front, the American dream. 

A lady with blonde hair walked out of the door. She had a warm smile and seemed very motherly. Tony opened the door, adjusted his sunglasses and walked to the up to the house. 

“I’m here for Peter.” He said to her. 

“Of course,” The lady smiled warmly at Tony. Tony followed closely behind and walked up the steps to the front door. 

“Peter!” The lady called out. “There is someone here for you.” 

There was the soft thump of footsteps running. A little boy with light brown hair came running down the hallway. Tony watched as he saw a little boy with wild curls come to a holt. 

Tony never really believed in love at first sight. It was something stupid and unbelievable. There was no way that you could take one glance at someone and fall head over heels for them. Especially if you didn’t know what they were like as a person. But Peter threw that all out of the window. He had barely known his son and he already loved him. Tony looked into Peter’s eyes and his heart melted. Peter’s eyes held such curiosity and innocence. Tony wanted to wrap the kid in bubblewrap and never let him leave the house. 

“Hi Peter.” Tony crouched down to Peter. “I’m Tony, you’re going to come and live with me. Is that alright?”

-

Tony spent a night in New York before he was heading back to California. Peter only had a small bag filled with some clothes and a few toys. There wasn’t much that Peter had, but Tony was more than happy to get it all for him when he got home. Peter was sitting in front of the tv playing with some building blocks and watching what ever kid show was on the tv. 

Tony was currently standing in the kitchen heating up some food for Peter. Tony wasn’t completely sure on what Peter could eat and shouldn’t eat. He was lucky enough that the foster family packed a few tins of baby food and some baby formula. 

Peter soon grew bored of his blocks and got up to find Tony. 

“‘ony. I hungry.” Peter babbled. 

“Your dinner is almost ready. Why don’t we put you in the high chair while we wait.” Tony bent at the knees and picked up Peter. The kid was soon safely put in a high chair. 

Tony went to the microwave and pulled out the kids dinner. He put it in front of Peter with a plastic knife and fork. Tony called room service for himself and sat next to Peter in the living room. 

“Movie!” Peter called out. 

“A movie and dinner at the same time?” Tony questioned. Peter eagerly nodded his head. Tony sighed and reached for the tv remote in front of him. He flicked through the channels until he reached Disney channel, as it was, they were playing a movie. Tony didn’t pay attention to the movie, he was nose deep into a parenting book.

That was until Peter threw his empty bowl on the floor. 

“Peter, if you were finished, you could have just told me.” Peter reached over to Tony and made grabby hands to Tony. “I’m going to the bathroom to get a face cloth, I don’t want you to throw anything else on the floor, alright?” 

Peter said nothing and just turned his attention back to the movie playing. Tony hauled himself up and started to walk in the direction of the bathroom. When Tony came back, he saw Peter wide eyed looking at the tv as a leopard tried to take a baby. Tony thought it was a little too graphic for a child, but it was Disney. 

“Alright kid, let’s make you all nice and clean.” Tony walked to Peter and started to wipe his face clean of the macaroni and cheese that he had eaten. Once he had finished, Tony lifted Peter up and out of the high chair and placed him on the couch, Tony joined Peter on the couch. 

Peter was still watching the tv with the same intent as before and turned into Tony’s side when the leopard almost caught the baby. Tony, who was completely unsure of himself, lifted his arm up and wrapped Peter up in a single arm hug. He didn’t know if he was doing it right. Tony had very vague memories of Howard doing this with him, until he realised he was a genius and forced him to grow up faster than any child should. 

Tony returned his attention from Peter to the movie. A gorilla had a human child? Weird. Maybe Tony joined at the wrong spot, there had to be more than a gorilla looking after a human baby. The more Tony watched the movie, he realised it was Tarzan. He had been offered an advanced screening of the movie, and Tony thought why not? He wasn’t doing anything and the movie was new.

By the time the song was finished, Peter was fast asleep on Tony’s chest. He realised more in that moment. Within the few hours of knowing Peter, he had wormed his way into his heart. A mere toddler, had broken through the walls that surrounded Tony’s heart, only a very, very few had made it that far. Every time Tony looked at Peter, he felt the ice in his heart melt and the walls guarding his heart shatter. The kid could ask for the moon, and Tony would serve it to him on a golden platter. 

It was a little naive of Tony, but he believed everything would be alright, everything would work out. From the two parenting books Tony had read, the kid was advance for his age. He was barely two and already a child genius. He would never do what Howard had done to him, Peter was going to have a childhood. He would know the meaning of playtime. He would make friends with children his age. Lost in his thoughts, Tony lost track of time. It was nearing eleven and the movie had long finished and some silly tv show was playing in the background. 

Very carefully, Tony stood up with Peter tucked snuggly in his arms. Of course he had the penthouse suite in the hotel he was staying at. But that meant he had to share a room with Peter, he had managed to get a crib up in the room for Peter. Before leaving the living room, Tony searched for a yellow floppy rabbit that Peter had carried around with him. Tony figured it was like a safety blanket, and if it kept the kid quiet and relax, then he would give him all the yellow floppy rabbits in the world. 

-

It had been a few weeks since he had brought Peter back home with him. So far, it had been great. The kid was easy going. Peter never cried unless he was tried or god-forbid, hurt. He had made Tony’s life bright again. There was now purpose. Tony could say his life had changed for the better. In the total four days he had known Peter, he was completely sober. He had not touched a drink since the kid had came home with him. But he was heavily dependent on coffee. _But better coffee and alcohol._ Tony thought bitterly to himself. 

Peter hadn’t done much since he had been with Tony. He had played with a few toys, read some books and watched way too much tv in Tony’s opinion. Tony wasn’t sure what he should do with Peter. There was no way that he would enjoy being in the labs with Tony and there was no way that Tony would let that happen. There was too much which could go wrong in the lab, and he didn’t want a two year old to be there. But in Tony’s life, all sense of peace must come to an end. Both Rhodey and Pepper were still to know about the kid. He knew there was a stern lecture from the both of them, but Tony couldn’t deal with it. He had bigger problems. Like Peter. 

But Rhodey came around away. Unannounced like normal. When his long time friend walked into the front door, he heard a child’s giggle echo through the house. Rhodey followed the sound until he was met with a sight which Rhodey would have _never_ dreamed of. There sitting in the lounge was Tony Stark, sitting in the floor, still in his pyjamas, playing with a small child. There was a look in Tony’s eyes the Rhodey could swear he had only seen it twice, happiness. Tony Stark was in his living room, playing with a child and was happy. Rhodey realised the room felt lighter, there was happiness, care and love. All things he would never associate with Tony. 

“Tony,” Rhodey decided to speak up. “Who is that?” Rhodey wanted to give the kid a gold star, he had done the impossible, he had made Tony happy. 

“This is Peter.” Tony smiled proudly. 

“And who was stupid enough to trust you with a child?” 

“CPS apparently.” So the state trusted Tony Stark with a child. Rhodey was confused. 

“So who is he?” 

“He’s my son and I’ve decided to look after him.” 

Rhodey’s mind went blank. The gold star worthy child in front of him was Tony’s spawn. The state had actually trusted Tony Stark to look after a child until they are eighteen. He wanted to lecture Tony and tell him how irresponsible it was to look after a child, if you can’t look after yourself. But one look at Tony threw that out the window. Besides the happiness radiating off Tony’s face, he looked healthy. He looked both well rested and sober, which was something Rhodey hadn’t seen Tony look like in a long time. There was worse things Tony could have done. He could have sent the child into the system, or he could be drunk and looking after a child. Maybe things were changing for the good, Tony had obviously stepped up and had decided to provide his son with a home. Peter had changed Tony for the better. 

“Hm,” Rhodey walked over to the father-son duo on the floor. “Fatherhood is a nice look on you.” 

“Shove off Rhodey.” Tony shifted his attention from his best friend and to his son, who was oblivious to the situation and was happily pushing cars on the floor. 

“I’m serious Tony.” Rhodey sighed. He made it to the couch and sat down. “I haven’t seen you this happy...” Rhodey trailed off. He couldn’t remember the last time he had seen Tony this happy. 

“I get your point.” Tony sighed, he ran a hand down his face. God, he felt tired, more tried than normal. He had been having early nights for the past few days, he was in bed by midnight and slept in until Peter woke up, which was nearing eight in the morning. But last night, Peter didn’t get to sleep until ten at night, then was up early in the morning. 

“You tired?” 

“Yeah the kid didn’t get to sleep until ten last night, then he was up at six this morning.”

“Go and get a couple of hours sleep in. I can watch Peter.” Rhodey offered.

“Hey Pete,” Tony whispered into his son’s ear. “I’m going to get some rest, your Uncle Rhodey is going to look after you.” 

-

A whole week had past since Rhodey had visited. Tony was still waiting on Pepper to come waltzing through the front door. Just before Tony knew about Peter, Pepper had taken some personal time off to spend with her family. She had given Tony a very detailed planner of all the meetings he had to go to. So far, he had only been to two out of the six. It wasn’t normal for him to skip out on a couple of business meetings, after all, that was why he had Pepper. He would normally send her in his place and she would write down all the key information and Tony would eventually read over it. Although there was a whole two months worth of meetings he had to read up on.

It was a lazy Thursday morning. Tony had decided that he was going to take advantage of the warm weather and take Peter down to the beach for the afternoon. Tony knew it was risky, there was no saying who could see them. Tony didn’t want Peter in the eyes of the world. But Tony wanted Peter to see the world, and not through closed doors and windows. 

It was just going to be Peter and Tony. Tony didn’t want Peter to be too tried for their time at the beach, so Tony had juts put Peter down for a late-mid-morning nap. Tony decided to go down to his lab and work on a few things. He had told JARVIS to alert him if Peter woke up at all while he was down in his lab. With the steady hand of a surgeon, Tony was re-wiring a circuit board. 

“Sir, Miss Potts has arrived and she in the living room.” JARVIS’ voice echoed through the lab. 

“Tell her I’m busy.” Tony didn’t even look up from the circuit board. 

That granted him a few moments of peace before JARVIS spoke up again. “Miss Potts has in formed me that she isn’t leaving until you go and see her.” 

Tony sighed. He fell back in his chair and let his head hit the back of his chair. He didn’t want to talk to her. Not now. She would lecture him about not attending the few meetings that he had to go to, and all the reports he didn’t fill out either. A very reluctant Tony, hauled himself up out of his chair and he walked up to lounge where Pepper was. 

“Miss Potts, what do I owe this pleasure.” Tony drawled out as he walked up behind Pepper. 

“Oh Tony, nice to join the land of the living.” Pepper’s eyes narrowed at Tony. “The board is wondering where you have been for the past month!” 

“I had important things.” Tony replied not trying to give anything about Peter away. 

“Being cooped up in you lab for a month does not count as _important_ things.” 

“I can assure you the reason is greater than that.” Tony made his way over to the kitchen, which was a few rooms away from the lounge, with Pepper following closely behind. “Want an apple?” Tony reached over the counter to grab an apple. 

“Sir, Peter is stirring.” JARVIS told Tony. 

“And thats the important thing.” Tony dropped the apple and ran to Peter’s room. 

Pepper followed close behind. Even though the billionaire always looked for the opportunity to skip out on a meeting, Pepper wanted to know what Tony deemed as important for him to miss an entire month worth of meetings. The next thing Pepper saw, like Rhodey she never envisioned Tony doing. But sure enough, there was Tony Stark bending over a crib picking up a child. Pepper knew instantly that the child defiantly younger than three. Pepper’s mind went into shutdown _(pepper.exe has stopped working)_ , she couldn’t believe the reason why Tony had missed the meetings was because he had a kid. 

“Tony-” Pepper started, then abruptly stopped. 

“Shit.” Tony mumbled under his breath when he realised Pepper had followed her into Peter’s room. This wasn’t ideal, he really wasn’t planning to tell Pepper about Peter for another few months, how he was going achieve that without her finding out? He didn’t have a clue, but it didn’t matter, Pepper had found out and she was standing in Peter’s bedroom. “Look, I’ll explain, but I just need to get Peter sorted.” 

Tony gave up, there was nothing he could do. Pepper had found out, and she deserved to know. He carried about his business like Pepper wasn’t there. He changed Peter diaper and placed him on his hip and walked him out to the lounge. Pepper followed closely behind and was in complete wonder on who the child was. There was a box full of toys that Pepper had missed when she was standing in the lounge. Tony was more than happy to put Peter in front of the toy box, and automatically, the tv in the lounge started to play a kids movie. 

“Before you ask, the kid is mine.” Tony turned to tell Pepper. He looked over at Peter and sat on the couch. “There was no other person to take the kid and I didn’t want him to go into the system.” 

Pepper said nothing. The pride she felt for Tony was off the charts. Maybe it’s a change for the good and the fact that Tony didn’t smell like a brewery was astounding. But that was short term effects, what about long term. Could Tony stick it out until the kid was in college, and actually stick around long after he had finished? 

“What’s next?” Pepper asked. 

“I have an appointment with CPS next month, they will see if I was capable of looking after Peter. I also have the choice to had him back over-”

Pepper saw red. Tony better not have any intentions on handing the kid back. His parents had died, he need stability, not to be given up then passed through the system like a basketball. “You better be in it for the long run.” Pepper bit at Tony. 

They say the eyes are the window into the soul, with one glance in Tony’s eyes, she knew the thought of giving the child up had definitely crossed his mind. This left Pepper with a new burning rage. 

“He’s not like an appliance Tony!” Pepper exclaimed, she paused to take a quick breath. “You can’t return him when you’re bored of him!” 

“You think I don’t already know that!” Tony fired back. “I had my doubts at the start, but I want to be there in the long run! I want to give him the childhood I never had!” Tony could feel his anxiety build up, and his anger was rising up to match it. “But I’m scared. I’m scared that I will turn out to be a no good father like Howard was!” 

Pepper reeled back. She knew Howard was a sore subject for Tony. But she couldn’t curb her anger. “You should have thought of that before you took in Peter!” 

“I didn’t think. I just acted. I had found out that my two year old son had no one left. He was all alone. I’ve been there and done that, I didn’t want my son to feel like that. I didn’t wanted him to be told that his parents died, and his biological father didn’t want anything to do with him.” Tony stopped to take a breath.

Pepper managed to calm herself. It was obvious that Tony had put in a lot of thought to Peter and she was proud. “I just hope you know what you’re doing,” Pepper mumbled, she felt defeated. “He’s just a boy, and I hope the decision that you make is the right one.” 

With Pepper not being as rilled up, Tony felt his anger and anxiety start to come down as well. The whole situation went better than he was expecting and hoping. He spared a glance at Peter. He was happily watching a movie and was more than content to stack his blocks up. 

“I’ll cover you meetings for the next few weeks, but by October you need to be back.” Pepper explained as she started to straighten her skirt out and to get ready to leave. “If you need, I’ll be more than happy to watch over Peter for you and I know Rhodey would love to as well.” Pepper left with a nod and lead herself out. 

Tony collapsed back into his chair. It was over, he was done telling people. There was a few other people Tony needed to tell, but they could wait for another day. He looked up at the time and saw there was more than enough time for Peter and himself to go to the beach for the afternoon. 

Like a headless chicken, Tony ran around the house gathering up everything he would need for Peter at the beach. There was a swimsuit for Peter, a bucket and spade, some snacks and of course, a lot of sunscreen. 

“C’mon Pete,” Tony walked over to Peter and picked him up and placed him on his hip. “We’re going to the beach.”

**Author's Note:**

> Here is another one shot. I'm a sucker for Tony having to look after a smaller Peter. I just find it so cute. And yes I did base this story off You'll Be In My Heart from Tarzan. 
> 
> On another note: Far From Home. (Spoilerish?)
> 
> I went into the movie, like this is what I need to recover from Endgame. Like I was sad that Tony wasn't in it, but like boi. It was like good old fashioned comic relief, I laughed so much and said "bless this child" like fifty times. But the first post-credit scene realised that I cannot have nice things, *especially* in the MCU. They just need to leave Peter alone. I'm not a happy camper.
> 
> update: there will be a part two for this. it should be up in a couple of days.


End file.
